Saturday, September 11, 2021 by Kara Myers | news

Well, it's been a couple weeks since we started back at FortePiano Studio, and after the usual small bumps as we all adjust to getting back into routine, everything seems to be running beautifully! We're working through new repertoire while reviewing old concepts, goofing around with our new fun pointer pals (see below!), making goals for what we hope to accomplish this year, and setting good practice habits. 

The cool ones were made by my very creative hubby Ben. The boring ones are mine. ;P

This year, our focus will be on two very important things: the beat (a tricky thing to define and even trickier to master), and effective weekly goal-setting. We've already started on both, and parents, watch for an email with more info!

Each week, students give me a self-assessed ranking from 1-5 based on how focused they were in their practices. At the end of the lesson, I also award them a ranking based on how well they achieved their goals from last week. The rankings are: 1=out to lunch (had fun but didn't do the work), 2=avoided hard parts, 3=not bad, 4=nailed it, and 5=supercharged.

Speaking of goal-setting, yesterday's group class put the power of effective practice habits to the test! After creating weekly practice schedules, we used the 3x in a row strategy to memorize music terms, then the "starting with small bites" strategy in a fiercely competitive game of mini-golf! Lastly we listened to Ms. Kara botch "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and helped her figure out how to correct her mistakes, all before tallying up our points and announcing the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medalists!

One last announcement on the topic of practice: a big round of applause to Katalina, who my goodness has once again won our Summer Practice Challenge! Katalina won a $10 iTunes gift card, which she can use to purchase a music-themed app (perhaps ReadRhythm, an app I'm going to be talking lots about this year!). 

Katalina's our Summer Challenge winner 3 years running!

Great job also to Jesse, who not only gave Katalina a run for her money this summer, but also learned and personally arranged the meme song "Coffin Dance" on his own (below). Also congrats to Evan, our other runner-up!

It makes me beyond happy when students learn stuff for the love of it!

Sunday, May 30, 2021 by Kara Myers | Uncategorized

Thanks to everyone who participated in today's recitals, and congratulations for your truly stellar performances!

As always, we hold a draw (or two!) at our spring recital. This year, the items up for grabs are an adorable horse stuffy and a kid-sized outdoor picnic table.

To find out who won, watch the video below!

Monday, April 5, 2021 by Kara Myers | challenges

Thanks to everyone who participated and voted in this year's YouTube Recital! I was especially impressed in the quality of the entries this year; your compositions did a wonderful job of capturing cinema's favorite characters and movies.

The competition was close, but here are the winners in each age and level category!

Early Beginner: Julianna

Runner-ups: Blue Lightning by Tyler, Ghostbusters by Fallon, and Horses by Jacob

Late Beginner: Danae and Daniel

Runner-ups: Water by Aria and Snowflakes by Audrey

Intermediate: Willow

Runner-ups: Ghostbusters by Katalina, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts by Arya, and Death of the Duck's Dad by Yuna

Advanced: Charles

Runner-ups: Harry Potter by Abby, Dual of Fates by Jesse, and The Terminator by Maya

Have a great Spring Break, everyone!

Kara